Book Review: Landline by Rainbow Rowell

18081809Genre: 

Adult Contemporary Fiction

Pages: 

310

Part of a Series?:

Standalone

Release Date: 

July 8th, drugs 2014

You Can Find the Book At:

GoodReads

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Book Depository

Author Website

GoodReads Summary: 

Georgie McCool knows her marriage is in trouble. That it’s been in trouble for a long time. She still loves her husband, Neal, and Neal still loves her, deeply — but that almost seems beside the point now.

Maybe that was always beside the point.

Two days before they’re supposed to visit Neal’s family in Omaha for Christmas, Georgie tells Neal that she can’t go. She’s a TV writer, and something’s come up on her show; she has to stay in Los Angeles. She knows that Neal will be upset with her — Neal is always a little upset with Georgie — but she doesn’t expect to him to pack up the kids and go home without her.

When her husband and the kids leave for the airport, Georgie wonders if she’s finally done it. If she’s ruined everything.

That night, Georgie discovers a way to communicate with Neal in the past. It’s not time travel, not exactly, but she feels like she’s been given an opportunity to fix her marriage before it starts . . .

Is that what she’s supposed to do?

Or would Georgie and Neal be better off if their marriage never happened?

My Review:

I told myself that in the year of 2014, I would read more adult books. Now…I’ve struggled with that but I knew that when Landline came out, I had to read it. There were no ifs, ands or buts. I think Rainbow Rowell is an absolutely fantastic writer, and I knew I had to read this book.

And this book is INCREDIBLE. I don’t think its for everyone, and I don’t think its for everyone who reads my blog. This book is about the deep emotional journey of a long term relationship, and I don’t think that’s something that everyone who reads this blog can relate to. I know a lot of you are young so this may not be the book for you. And that’s okay, put it on your “to-read” for the future. Its a wonderful book, but not for the YA readers that tend to read my blog.

But that being said, Rainbow Rowell made me cry so much while reading this book. This is not a particularly sad book and the ending is not heartbreaking or sad but she has a way of writing a relationship that feels so real. Like when I read “Fangirl”, there were so many moments when I just wanted to scream “Yes! Yes, exactly. You know exactly how I feel.” She writes so real, so genuinely and in such a familiar way, that its easy to get caught up in the stories of this characters.

Georgie and Neal have been together for quite a long time and their marriage, their relationship, is showing that strain. They hardly see each other, the affection seems to be gone, and its a daily struggle to keep their relationship going. When Georgie somehow is able to dial into the past and talk to Neal as she knew him in the beginning of their relationship, she remembers all the things she loves about Neal and the reasons they’ve been together for so long, no matter the bad. And its so true, and real to a relationship. There’s up and downs, and struggles and there are things that bring you down and sometimes you don’t think that you can pull yourself up. Its not always love and rainbows and butterflies. Relationships are hard work and she completely captures that in this novel.

But what she also captures is the hope as well. Yes, there are hard times. Yes, there are times when you’re struggling to keep it together and you’re not sure if you can keep fighting the fight and you wonder if you should just let it go, but then there’s hope too. There are reasons you got together, reasons you love each other, and you have to remember those to push through those hard times. She gives the reader hope, hope in all their relationships and I really love that.

What makes this a great novel is that its a very human story. Its not necessary full of action or a ton of plot but its full of character development and love and friendship and struggle and hard work. Its all told in the story of these two people and their relationship and their fight to keep it together. She makes it so real and so relatable and if you’ve ever experienced anything like this in your life, its going to touch you in so many ways. I found myself crying because it felt good to know that I wasn’t the only person in the world who felt these struggles or felt these emotions and even though its fictional, it helped me to not feel so alone.

Rating:

L.A. Times Festival of Books 2014: Day One and Day Two Recap Vlogs!

Guys, doctor I just had SUCH an amazing weekend. This weekend was the annual Los Angeles Times Festival of Books at U.S.C., where the entire weekend is dedicated to the amazing culture of reading. It’s one of my favorite weekends of this year, and this year was no disappointment.

There was a team of five us: me, Sylvia from Fangirl Feeels, our friends Cassandra and Alexandra and my sister, Jessica. We had our game plans, and despite minor hiccups along the way, we managed to do everything that we wanted to do.

I met (and met again, for some) amazing authors this weekend: John Green (OHMYGOD), Rainbow Rowell, Lauren Oliver, Marissa Meyer, Sarah J Maas, Robin Benway, Veronica Roth, Lauren Myracle, Leigh Bardugo, Deb Caletti, Kiersten White, Andrew Smith and Stephanie Perkins.

But I won’t keep you from seeing my awesome vlogs. I vlogged while at the Fest so you get some pretty awkward and hilarious moments from me, a short video of my conversation with John Green and…lots of awkwardness haha.

Check it out!

Day One!

Day Two!

Yay! I hope you enjoyed seeing the awesomeness that was my weekend!

I managed to grab extra copies of Cinder, Anna and the French Kiss and Fangirl for a giveaway. There will NOT be a giveaway for the month of April (as of now), but there is a HUGE giveaway coming for my Blog Birthday in May so keep an eye out to see how you can get your hands on these books!

Oh! And don’t forget you can check out ALL the pictures on the What A Nerd Girl Says Facebook page here!

Happy Reading Everyone!

*     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *

YALL Fest Interview: Rainbow Rowell

Disclaimer: This was supposed to be posted yesterday and I apologize that it wasn’t. Sometimes school gets in the way of, what is ed like, shop remembering stuff haha. 

Screen Shot 2013-09-09 at 1.56.13 PM

Don’t forget to check out YALL Fest on their website and their twitter!

Today’s YALL Fest Interview is with none other than Rainbow Rowell.

tumblr_lmjagf6PbR1qi1e0l

Rainbow has written adult novels such as Attachments, story and her upcoming novel, Landlines. She has been garnering a lot of attention lately due to her two YA titles, Eleanor and Park and Fangirl, both of which I’ve reviewed on this blog and can be read by clicking on the title.

She is also doing some events in the next few months, besides YALL Fest, so you can check that out here.

Enjoy this short interview :)

Q: What one thing do you need to have when you write?

A: Lip Balm

Q: Describe your book in five words.

A: Fangirl: Earnest, snowy, swoony, minty, bookish

Q: What is the hardest line to write-the first or the last?

A: The first! The whole first page is a nightmare. I want people to just skip it. And I always end up rewriting it.

Q: Best writing tip you ever received?

A: “Just finish your book.”

Q: What one young adult novel do you wish you had when you were a teen? Why?

A: Homecoming by Cynthia Voigt. I think it would have made me feel less alone.

Q: Where is your favorite place to write?

A: At coffee shops. In giant overstuffed chairs.

Q: What are you working on now?

A: I’m revising my adult novel, Landline, which comes out in Spring 2014, and playing with a romance/political/tragicomic fantasy

Q: What is your favorite genre to write in? To Read?

A: I write mostly contemporary. I read mostly fantasy.

Q: At what point in the development of an idea do you know it will become a full length novel?

A: All my ideas are full length novels. I have a hard time narrowing my scope.

*      *       *      *      *

I hope you enjoyed this interview with the wonderful Rainbow Rowell. Tune in Wednesday for another YALL Fest Interview!